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Garage Novo is vintage Bugatti heaven

Garage Novo doesn't work on Bugattis exclusively -- occasionally a Delage or a Ferrari sullies the joint. Photo by David Marvier for Petrolicious

We're so used to seeing vintage Bugattis held up as priceless works of art which happen to have motors in them that it's easy to forget that they are, in fact, cars

Cars are greasy, oily things and -- believe it or not -- they need regular maintenance if you actually use them in the manner in which their creators intended. So if you enjoy putting your Type 57 through its paces, eventually it's going to need an oil change and a tire rotation. You're probably not going to want to take it to your local cheapo mechanic, which leaves France's three-generation-old Garage Novo (that seems to be the closest thing it has to a formal name).

We imagined that any garage that makes a name working on the rarest and most desirable classics is a wondrous place, but the the tastefully cluttered facility that Garage Novo operates out of looks like a movie set -- a picture-perfect vision of an old-world mechanic's shop. There's just the right balance of cars, parts and character, and somehow seeing so many Bugattis in one place makes them a bit more real to us.

Petrolicious takes on a tour of Garage Novo, and true to form, the photography (by David Marvier) is excellent. There's some backstory, as well:

"During World War II, life was difficult. After the war, Henry decided to go to work for himself, which was difficult, because cars weren't yet valuable and their owners weren't quite ready to spend a lot of money. Nevertheless, he bought a garage very close to Paris, and in the middle of the 1960s, the value of cars increased and life for Henry became a bit easier. At this time he bought the current garage in Marolles-en-Hurepoix, France (about 40 km south of Paris), which many people today refer to as "Garage Novo" and which a customer helped Henry convert from a farm. He continued working up to the 1980s, when the very first vintage car addicts started coming around."

And now vintage Bugattis are among the most valuable cars -- indeed, among the most valuable of all human artifacts -- ever created. At the end of the day, though, it still takes someone who knows how to turn a wrench to keep them running.

Graham Kozak
- Graham Kozak drove a 1951 Packard 200 sedan in high school because he wanted something that would be easy to find in a parking lot. He thinks all the things they're doing with fuel injection and seatbelts these days are pretty nifty too.
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